On April 1 Roger Ebert published a letter to readers of The Chicago Sun-Times that was essentially a farewell to the long-running, widely syndicated weekly program that has made him not simply the best-known movie reviewer in America, but the virtual embodiment of this curious profession.
But the real news in Mr. Ebert’s letter was his return to regular written criticism. A recurrence of cancer of the salivary gland in the summer of 2006 might have left him unable to speak — a problem recent surgery failed to solve — but he has hardly lost his voice.
For his loyal readers Mr. Ebert’s resumption of reviewing (April 1 happened to be the 41st anniversary of his debut in The Sun-Times) is a chance to pick up an interrupted conversation. For those who labor beside or behind him in the vineyards of criticism it is an incitement to quit grousing and pick up the pace.
I have a soft spot for Ebert, ever since he wrote me an email about all of the creationist idiocy he received after criticizing Imax theaters for pulling movies that were about the origin of life, the origin of the universe, and evolution.
Maybe he’ll review Expelled….

I’m a long time fan of Ebert and I’d be hard pressed to believe that he won’t be diving into this subject with gusto, and in the process provide us all with a wonderful window into the process of film propaganda and revealing the forces of fear and small-mindedness that fuel the production of such a shoddy piece of work and in the end we’ll come out immeasurably better prepared to identify this kind of witless, artless attempt at persuasion in the end. Great to see his writing gracing my paper again.